Bridesmaid Gifts Tips

What Exactly Is a Bridesmaid's Luncheon?

The bridesmaids' luncheon is a special event, hosted by the bride, that is held approximately one month prior to the wedding. The purpose of the bridesmaid luncheon is to allow the bride an opportunity to show each of the bridesmaids how much she appreciates all that they are doing or have done to assist with the planning, strategizing and all other necessary preparations for the upcoming wedding.

Bridal luncheons can be any type of celebration that the bride chooses to host for her attendants, ranging from a formal luncheon at a five star hotel to an afternoon picnic in a local park or zoo. The location is not as important as the reason for hosting this special luncheon in the first place, to honor the women and men that the bride has chosen to stand with her during her wedding ceremony.

Ideally, the members of the bridal party are close friends and family who already know each other and can spend the afternoon relaxing. However, if your bridal luncheon is also an introduction of friends from across the globe, there is no better situation than the bridesmaids' luncheon to enhance the sentiment of new friendships. Many people are confused by the term “bridesmaid luncheon” and wonder how it is different from the traditional and better known event, bridal shower.

While both the bridesmaids luncheon and the bridal shower are celebratory events that are related to the wedding, the bridal shower is an event intended to honor the bride and the bridesmaid's luncheon honors the brides wedding attendants. The bridesmaid luncheon provides the perfect opportunity to give each of the bridal party their bridesmaids gifts.

Comments

   

Bridal Attendant Gifts

As you plan your wedding, the support, understanding and strength of your bridal party members will become invaluable. As the bridal luncheon gets nearer, it will become important to locate gifts that express your gratitude and love for each of the women and men that you have chosen to stand with you on your wedding day.

For many, the bridal party will be made completely of women while others will ask brothers, childhood boy friends and other male relatives to stand with them. As weddings evolve, traditions and expectations change and are modified, today the traditional bridal party does not necessarily include men on one side and women on the other. With this in mind, buying the traditional bridal attendant gifts is not as easy as it once was and finding a unique bridesmaid gift is often easier said than done. However, a special way to recognize each member of your bridal party, whether male or female, is the give each bridal attendant a personalize photo frame of you both together.

Using a hinged double 4X6 frame, place a childhood or otherwise historical picture on the left hand side and place a more recent photo on the right hand side. This is a very emotional gift that visually states how important each person is in your life and how deeply you value them. When taking wedding photos, have individual shots taken with each member of the bridal party so that you can send each bridal attendant the wedding photo of your both together to place into the photo frame. This photographic imagery is the sentimental gift that says “I love you” each time your friend or family member looks at it.

Comments

   

Junior Bridesmaids

Junior bridesmaids, flower girls and ring bearers are all important parts of the wedding party but are all too often left out of the wedding attendant's parties that involve more adult entertainment and activities. However, a special luncheon with the bride and groom can be just the special thank you that the children would enjoy. Making arrangements with parents to meet the junior members of the bridal party at a location such as “Chuckee Cheese” or another children's favorite restaurant would provide a wonderfully celebratory location to enjoy lunch and deliver the junior bridesmaids gifts.

Remember, as you shop for special gift ideas for the junior members of your wedding party, that the gifts should be age appropriate to the intended recipient. Junior bridesmaids might enjoy music boxes, Bridal Barbie and Groom Ken or a porcelain statue of a bridesmaid or other wedding related theme. It is also quite possible that the children in the wedding party would enjoy a gift basket filled with art supplies, play-doh or snacks and candies. Remember the age of the child and consider what the best choice is for each child. The gifts for each junior bridesmaids do not have to match in appearance but they should always be within the same price range, preventing any tears or arguments later during your wedding.

Comments

   

Why Not Play "This Is Your Life" At Your Bridesmaid Luncheon

For many brides, planning their wedding has been an ongoing process since childhood; long before the groom was picked out, the bridesmaids were found in childhood friends. Celebrating special friendships at the bridesmaid luncheon is exactly why the occasion began, this special wedding party is an opportunity for the bride to honor and thank each of the members of her bridal party.

With this in mind, it is also a wonderful opportunity to give each bridesmaid unique gifts that celebrate who they are and their importance to the bride. A fun way to accomplish this is to create a game show atmosphere at the bridesmaid luncheon, a “this is your life” type of format in which the bride creates personalized biographies of each of her bridal attendants and then purchases unique bridesmaids gifts that match each attendant. The fun is in the “awarding” of each bridesmaid's gift as she is introduced and the personal biography read by the bride. Fun things to include in this game are childhood stories that are appropriate to share with other members of the bridal party; it is not a good idea to share things that were told in confidence, make the comments and stories light hearted and fun for everyone to share.

Online searches can provide many different gift ideas for the different experiences, characteristics and silly stories that you share; keep the gifts inexpensive and fun for the game. After the game, give each bridesmaid her wedding bridesmaids gifts that are specific to your wedding event such as the traditional bridesmaid jewelry.

Comments

   

Bridesmaid Sleepover Weekend

Almost every girl's childhood includes girlfriend sleepovers complete with movies, munchies, lots of gossip and laughter. If your bridal attendants are childhood friends, why not revisit the “good old days” with a bridesmaid sleepover and movie night? Hosting a Bridal Party sleepover is not only reminiscent of childhood fun but a great way to relax and unwind together.

Since most bridesmaid events are held within a month of the actual wedding date, hosting a bridesmaid's sleepover would be a great way to extend a simple luncheon into an evening event just for the girls. As you plan for your bridesmaid sleepover, it can be a fun idea to shop for bridesmaid gifts that are within the sleepover theme. Creative bridesmaid gifts such as pink polka dot manicure sets, fashion couture place card holders, handbag photo frames and other cute fashion shaped gift ideas are reminders of a childhood focused on fashion magazines, young love and dreams of the future.

Combine these fun-filled images with childhood pictures of yourself and each of the bridesmaids and you will have created inexpensive bridesmaids gifts that each member of your girlfriends will treasure for a lifetime.

Comments

   

Handcrafted Beaded Bracelets Make Wonderful Bridesmaids Jewelry

If you are a bride that is very creative, you might consider creating handmade beaded bracelets for each of your bridesmaids' gifts. The recent popularity of handmade beaded bracelets has created a unique gift idea for valued friends and family. Sentimental handmade gifts make wonderful bridesmaids gifts and provide an accent piece of bridesmaid jewelry that can be worn during the wedding.

It is often very difficult to locate unique bridesmaids gifts to give as bridesmaids gifts. If you create your own handmade beaded bracelets for each girl, you can choose the color and style of beads with which to make each girls unique bracelet. Craft stores are filled with hundreds of beads, with unique colors, patterns, shapes and sizes. It is also possible to add each girls name, prayer boxes, various shapes and charms to enhance the unique bracelet to each girl's unique personality.

When you shop, you need only keep in mind how closely you want each girls bracelet to match in your wedding photos, if you want them to match at all, and then purchase the beads accordingly. As you begin to shop for your bridesmaids' jewelry, keep in mind the fashion and style of each bracelet to make sure that all of the accessories will match.

Comments

   

Day Spa Offers Opportunity For Bridal Party To Relax and Enjoy

For many bridesmaids, the idea of relaxing together is a great way to spend a special day. As the brides, you may be trying to think of a special way to thank your bridesmaids for all they have done in the planning and preparations of your wedding. Trendy day spas provide a wonderful way to relax and enjoy the company of one another, slipping away from the stress and pressure just outside the front door. Treating your special friends to a relaxing day at a spa is a great way to shake off the pressures of wedding planning and get back to the basics of friendship: champagne cocktails, relaxing music and laughter.

Hosting a champagne brunch immediately following the visit to the day spa would provide a great opportunity to give each of your bridesmaids' gifts of thanks to supplement the afternoon's spa activity. Consider giving each of your bridesmaids gifts that complement this wonderful day at the spa; soft terry cloth robes with matching slippers, body lotions and oils, a bottle of champagne and a soothing musical compact disc that enhances the memories of a day spent submerged in friendship and relaxation is a wonderful way to say “thank you” for all that they have done to help you prepare for the most important day of your life.

Comments

   

A Winter Wonderland Wedding

Winter weddings complete with the romance of falling snow and a horse drawn sleigh are reminiscent of romance movies and holiday greeting cards. If you and your groom are planning just this type of “Currier and Ives” wedding, use this theme to carry throughout all of your different wedding events. Planning a bridesmaid luncheon that utilizes the imagery of snowflakes falling and the beauty of fresh fallen snow while seeming to be a difficult task is actually quite easy to accomplish.

Stark white table linens with blue napkins offer the subtle image of the blue sky above the fallen snow. Silver and diamond rhinestone accents further the imagery of winter sky and snow; so accent with decorative pieces that employ this imagery. A wonderful centerpiece is a blue candle with a diamond rhinestone snowflake centered upon a mirror in the center of the table will create the coziness within the candles flame with the contrast of the blue and silver snow imagery.

As you plan for the bridesmaid's gifts, shop for items that will enhance the winter wedding theme but that will be special to each of your bridal attendants.

Personalized bridesmaids gifts such as cashmere scarves, personalized bridesmaid's jewelry or other bridal accessories are always valuable as sentimental gifts once the wedding is over. Remember as you shop for a bridesmaid gift that you are buying gifts to honor friends that you treasure, make sure that your bridesmaids gifts are as unique as your friends themselves

Comments

   

Summer Weddings Offer Bridal Party Opportunity To Celebrate Memories Of Summer Fun

Summer weddings offer many different themes and ideas upon which to focus the wedding planning. As a busy bride, it is often difficult to put a lot of time into planning the supplemental events that occur simultaneously to the wedding itself. If you are feeling overwhelmed with the wedding planning, plan a bridesmaid luncheon that is fast and fun for everyone. As afternoon barbecue complete with banana split sundaes is a fun childhood memory upon which to celebrate lifelong friendships. Using the bright summer colors of red, yellow and white decorate a barbecue party with childhood images of checkered blankets, lemonade and ice cream. As the bridesmaid luncheon begins, offer the bridesmaids gifts of childhood fun that include inexpensive bridesmaid gift baskets filled with unique bridesmaids gifts specific to each special friend.

Mini photo albums with special pictures of childhood fun shared with each bridesmaid, specialty mints with personalized labels, summer flip-flop shaped candles and note cards, beach balls, and other summer fun images provide unique and inexpensive bridesmaid gift ideas. Before you make your final gift selections for each bridesmaid, compile a list of basic gifts you want to include in the bridesmaid gift basket and then create a few items unique to each of your special friendships. Sharing and remembering the fun in your past is a great way to thank each of these special friends for sharing in your most special day.

Comments

   

Spring Garden Wedding Party

Garden weddings are very popular in the early spring, with bright colors of crisp white, sunshine yellow, fresh spring green, delicate pinks and other pastel hues it is easy to create a wedding filled with the youth and freshness found in an early spring morning. As you begin to plan your bridesmaid luncheon, it is often difficult to identify exciting bridal attendant gifts that are inexpensive and still beautiful.

If your budget is getting tighter and you need to find a way to bring down expenses, creating your own homemade bridal attendant gifts can be an inexpensive and unique way to say thank you to your bridal attendants without breaking the bank. Crisp white linens on your luncheon tables will be perfectly complemented with bright green plants placed at the center of each table. Creating centerpieces by using plotted garden herbs will not only provide the accent that your tabletops need for decorations but can be taken home at the end of the luncheon by the bridal party as your bridal party gifts.

Easy to create wooden picket fenced planters can be made using a small wooden box and craft sticks. Once glued or nailed into place, the box and craft sticks can be painted white and the small garden herbs placed inside each box. Create one box for each bridal attendant or wedding party member that will be receiving a gift. Not only will the green plants provide a vivid color splash on your luncheon tables but the planters will provide a conversational ice breaker and the gifts will provide long term culinary delight to each of your bridal party attendants for a long time.

Comments

   

Traditional Bridesmaids Gifts

Traditionally, many brides purchase the bridesmaids wedding jewelry as a gift for their bridesmaids. Matching earrings, necklace, bracelet and hair accessories are chosen for the bridesmaid's jewelry to be worn during the wedding ceremony. This traditional bridesmaid's gift functions well as a gift of thanks for each bridesmaid and as a way of making sure that the bridesmaids' jewelry is uniform in all of the wedding photos.

Bridesmaid jewelry is a wonderful gift of gratitude for the support, assistance and love that is shown by each bridesmaid as the wedding is planned, prepared for and participated in. If you are planning your wedding and would like to follow tradition but want your bridesmaid gifts to be unique to each member of your bridal party, a great idea for wedding jewelry is to purchase personalized initial necklaces made of sterling silver or with sparkling rhinestones or diamond replicas.

Another quality idea is to give each friend a heart shaped locket or a geometrical shaped charm that is complete with each girl's first initial or complete monogram. There are so many different ideas in personalized jewelry, it is only important to make sure that the style you choose will look good on each of the bridesmaids and that you will be satisfied with how the pieces will look in your wedding photographs.

Comments

   

Charm Bracelet Makes A Wonderful Gift For Bridesmaids

A creative bridesmaid gift that is very popular is the charm bracelet. Why not try creating a unique bridesmaid gift for each member of your bridal party by shopping for specialty charms for each of your attendants. The charm bracelet has long been a unique way to express personal hobbies, accomplishments and friendships that are held dear to the wearer. In many cases, charms can be purchased online from a reputable charm dealer, allowing the bride to shop online at any time of the day or night. Personalized charm bracelets can be easily purchased, unique to each bridesmaid, as an inexpensive bridesmaid gift.

For the busy bride, this is a great opportunity to purchase bridesmaids jewelry that is both sentimental and fashionable. Unique bridesmaids gifts are always more sentimental that the general gift given to each member of the bridal party, taking time to personalize each gift makes it that much more valuable to each bridal attendant. As you begin to shop for your creative bridesmaids gifts, identify different characteristics, hobbies, accomplishments, passions and pleasures of each of your bridal attendants and shop for charms that represent each of these traits.

Once you have located and purchased each of the charms, create a personalized list that you include with your bridesmaid's gift to identify the symbolism of each charm. Each of your bridesmaids will greatly value this most unique bridesmaid gift for many years to come.

Comments

   

A Cruise Line Destination Wedding Offers Great Ideas For Bridesmaid's Gifts

If your destination wedding is taking place on a cruise, it is a great idea to offer theme related bridesmaids gifts for each of your bridal attendants. The fun and excitement of a wedding cruise is often the topic of conversation between friends and family during the entire length of the wedding planning timeline. If you are a bride that is planning a wedding cruise, it is a natural transition to plan a bridal luncheon with the same theme.

There are so many unique bridesmaids gifts that you can purchase to build the excitement and prepare your bridesmaids for the upcoming wedding. Luggage identification tags in the shape of a cruise ship, travel size toiletries, personalized towels, fashionable flip-flops, suntan oil, sunglasses and other creative bridesmaid gift ideas that focus on travel and fun make a wonderful bridesmaid gift package. As you begin your shopping for bridesmaid's gifts, it is a great idea to purchase personalized bridesmaid gifts, canvas totes, in which to put all the different gifts. Once the canvas tote arrives, filling it with trashy romance novels, snacks, a bottle of water and other “fun in the sun” essentials makes for a wonderful carry around bag while relaxing on the cruise ship.

Each member of your bridal party will enjoy a creative bridesmaid's gift that focuses on gifts that not only serve a purpose for the destination wedding location but also offer fun and laughter during your wedding vacation.

Comments